Polypropylene is a relatively low cost resin having many desirable properties. It is lightweight, has excellent chemical resistance, a high melting point, good stiffness to toughness balance and excellent dielectric properties. Being thermoplastic, it is readily adaptable to a wide variety of applications in food packaging, construction, electronics, fiber, recreation uses, etc. Nevertheless, it suffers from a number of drawbacks which derive from its surface and inter-surface properties, and limit its use and/or give rise to inferior products. Among its disadvantages is its difficulty in printing, painting and glueing.
Furthermore, because of the hydrophobic nature of PP, undesirable electric charges develop on its surface which limit the processing speed of filaments and fibers made therefrom. It is also difficult to metallize and its adhesion to reinforcing additives, such as glass fiber, is poor. This is particularly felt with molding resin grade, i.e. isotactic+syndiotactic, polypropylene (PP).